An armoured landship, did you say?

I've had an idea for an ironclad 'behemoth' for the Prussian VSF army (for Hordes of the Things) for a while now. I'd been inspired by this sort of thing, but wanted to put my own unique 'spin' on it. I ended up with this:

I began my mapping out what mathematicians call a 'net'.. 

This was then cut from light card

The 'chimney' (after all, it's VSF, steam driven) came from a small piece of card tubing.

The wheels were left over from some colonial British guns

Applique armoured plates were added. The boiler arrangement is more small card tubing, and the 'condenser coils' are old biro springs. Finally a few boxes and hatches were added.

Now, I'm not that happy with it. I don't feel that it captures the aesthetic I was after, the Prussian land ship look that ought to be more sophisticated than this. However it will do for now, and I did enjoy the creative processes. So that gives 61 of the 72 points needed for Big Battle HotT.. getting there. Maybe some Hordes to even out the numbers, and perhaps some more blade.

More Prussian VSF.. some machine guns

I've been 'pottering' away at the VSF Prussians (for Hordes of the Things - HotT), based around those Airfix 1/76th scale WW1 Germans. The box comes with a Maxim, albeit that it is not on the correct mount. However this is after all VSF, a fantasy genre, so.. who cares. I decided to use them as artillery. Why? They have a longer range than rifles, and were certainly more effective that rifles, so counting them as shooters didn't seem to reflect the impact of machine guns on the battlefield. 

I also wanted something a little different in the way of a mount. I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks, messing around with bits from the good old fashioned spares box (I'm not into 3D printing you understand, not because I'm some sort of modern day luddite, but simply because I love the challenge of creating in this more practical physical way). I came up with a solution that I liked - there was an earlier 'fail', or an earlier learning experience if you prefer, since discarded, but which lead to this solution. So, one gun on a special sled mount with armoured shield, designed to be pulled into position by some suitable tow (not modelled), and one the good old fashioned tripod.

The two MMG 'artillery' pieces, the armoured shield sled mount nearest the camera

The traditional tripod mount

The army so far is:

3 x airboats

2 x artillery

2 x blades

5 x warband (specialist attack troops with flamethrowers etc)

6 x shooters

... giving a total of 42 points. The goal is to complete a Big Battle HotT army at 72 points.

The whole Prussian army so far

The two blade elements at the front

Warband in the middle ground of the photo

A ways to go to reach that 72 point figure, and as you'd predict, there will have to be some sorts of behemoths and heroes in the mix here somewhere.

The first VSF Prussian infantry

The Prussian Victorian Science Fiction army began with three airboats (a Hordes of the Things troop type). I am using the Airfix World War 1 German figures for the infantry.  This is a 'painting conversion' given that these figures don't quite match the uniform/equipment look of pre 1900 Prussian infantry. However HotT is a form of 'fantasy' 'gaming, so who is to tell me exactly what they should look like.

I didn't want this army to simply be the  same as the British and Turkish VSF armies. When I create HotT armies I try to give each army a slightly different tactical feel by varying the troop types. So looking at the troop types, and thinking about technology, it struck me that perhaps some of the 'assault troops'; might be better represented by 'warband'. When they are 'on form' they can be lethal, but they may also be brittle when opposed by determined shooters, or blades.

These are three 'proof of concept' stands..  I often do this to ensure I can create the look/feel I am looking for - black picklehaube, dark blue tunic, and grey trousers. The first two stands are 'shooters'.  Of course armies of this era ought to have shooters, rifle armed infantry. 

Prussian shooters

Prussian warband

I'm happy enough with these, so, onward and upward with more infantry. I do think there will also be mobile artillery, maybe a behemoth, and of course cavalry, still to come.

Victorian Science Fiction action with HotT

To finish off a week of HotT games, Jim and I played a Big battle HotT game. Jim was keen to see how BBHotT played when compared with our first foray into the new DBF rules. We chose my two 20mm VSF armies - British and Turkish. Of note was my choice of a God ... that never showed up. We also both included an aerial hero in our multitudes, along with a solid core of blade supported by shooters and artillery. In HotT terms, we fielded the standard three x 24 point commands. In DBF terms, the British army totalled 194 points, the Turkish 192. Both armies included a solid core of Riders, the British also including a number of knights to the Turkish single knight base.

This isn't an AAR, so it's short on detail of composition and detail of the action. The report is more simply intended as a visual record.

British riders moving forward towards an old industrial complex

British behemoths

British aerial hero supported by two flyers

The Turkish army also included the same detachment .. aerial hero supported by two flyers (men on flying carpets, of course)

The first major clash came on the Turkish left

The Turkish right, a behemoth supported by riders and shooters

The centre became very messy very quickly once action was joined

That doesn't look good for the unit of Turkish lancers/knights that has become isolated

The two airboats went head to head.. quite a jostle

The action was fairly balanced, until my own die rolling turned to disaster, and in two turns I lost the CnC and the general of the left flank command, and quite a few fighting stands, including the artillery and several riders. That's the way it goes. We now plan to use the same armies in a DBF game some time soon. Life has got in the way over the next week, so it will be a little while.

Regardless of the dice though, HotT games are always a lot of fun... and it was good to see the larger Big Battle armies arrayed on the table.

A British VSF stronghold

Every now and then I have a flash of inspiration. Not exactly like realising how to split the atom, or solve world poverty, or banish the forces of the neo-liberal right wing .. but in the 'gaming sense, a germ of an idea that with a little time evolves into something I quite like. This is an example. 

My British Victorian Science Fiction army for HotT (Hordes of the Things) has lacked a stronghold. Browsing through my many 'bits boxes' as you do I stumbled across a 15mm old country farm house, and a futuristic piece of equipment that could perhaps have been a 'power house' .. or ... whatever heinous machine you care to imagine. The appeal, the inherent anachronism, of their juxtaposition appealed to me. Both on the same base, a heinous machine pseudo-disguised, only half hidden, behind an old farm house. So this idea took shape.

The finished product, farm house in front, scientific 'machine' behind connected with a heavy red cable, as you do.

I wanted the machine half hidden behind a mound, as if the ground had been partially excavated and the machine is half hidden deep in the earth. To create the 'mound' or hillock I glued some old plastic sprues to the base in order to give the filler compound something to key onto, and also to save weight on the overall base.

I then gradually layered filler over the sprues, allowing each thin layer to dry before proceeding. I am hoping this will minimise the chances of shrinkage and cracking

The base overall was then given a layer of plaster

... and the building and machine were glued into the wet filler

A few small hedges ... actually hedgerows for 6mm, but who notices ...

A piece of thick copper wire to represent a heavy duty cable connecting the machine and the house...

... and an old Airfix Cuirassier figure standing in the road outside the farmhouse with horse.. yes I know it's French, but this is 'fantasy', so I can do whatever I like.. and it was a way of emphasising the anachronisms I wanted on the stronghold base

And voila, a stronghold for the VSF army. 

VSF Naval elements for HotT

 Andy and I have been contemplating the incorporation of 'naval' elements into our HotT (Hordes of the Things) games for some time, partly for the simple aesthetic, and also for some additional variation. My thinking has been inspired by the naval rules within the DBR rules set (once we have trialled them, I'll post them to the Fb groups etc for comment and 'massage'). Friend Keith played a DBR game usign an Elizabethan army with galleons, and I was hooked (thanks Keith).

Anyway, to play with naval elements, you of course need naval elements, and I have been trying to understand how I might make something suitable for my VSF armies. This is the result so far. The construction is a bit rough, and doesn't really stand close up scrutiny, but you get the idea.

The basic hull shape I drew freehand. I drew one side only, created a template, and then drew it along with a mirror image in order to get the symmetry the hull needed. The hull shape was cut from foam board, and the hull sides were added using simple thin card. This is how I managed to create the ram in the bow.

The superstructure was created from the scraps and spares boxes. The funnels etc are dismembered parts of an old Bic biro refill. The inner refill tops were cut down to create the two forward turrets. The rear turret is the cut off end of an external fuel tank from an Airfix T34 tank. The turret 'casements' are slices taken from the inner cardboard tubes in dog poop bags (I've said before that with two Border collies we have an ample supply of these tubes).

Not the best quality piece of scratch building I have done (please don't look too closely at the photos). You get the idea. Now, some HotT games with naval elements.